2011-07-06 - Swimming and Strangers
It's afternoon - the sun is high - casting warm rays down through a cloudless blue sky. The day couldn't be any more perfect and that is exactly why there happens to be so many people around. Of course, that also means that it's all too easy to blend in with the crowd, at least for those who look somewhat normal. In the distance, surfers dance along high waves which dissipate long before they reach the calmer water closer to shore. There are sunbathers - a few showing more skin than they should, volleyball players, swimmers, and parents with their children building sandscastles. Among these, Sinya does stand out just a bit. Afterall, there aren't /that/ many La Gian catgirls around. A few people do look over to stare, especially a couple of guys who are all but gawking. True to her word, the catgirl is wearing a two-piece, which seems to show she actually as a decent chest under her normal work clothes. The bottoms are custom-done, with a little set of strings that ties around a ring just big enough for her tail to slip through - giving the impression of a g-string. Over this, she has a towel laid over her shoulders, covering most of her back from view. True to her word, Tina is sitting on the beach, back against a surfboard. The woman has shades on, and kinda just sitting back. Her weapon of choice? Err, Bikini of choice? A light blue two piece that fits tightly against her. Next to her is a surfer suit for those long hours at sea of surfing. THe woman is waiting for a nya as she sits there, with a life jacket next to her. She is giggling a little bit as she winks at a few boys who all but faint as they look at her openly... Bounty Hunters, A-Laws, Avoiding Check Point, over-riding security cameras.... R has been having some fun just trying to survive between going from the Bit Coloney back down to Earth where he needed to gather some things. Thankfully he still had contacts on Earth who he knew he was safe with, one of this being Nell Aulter and the other was those of the SuiKyosha. Though after some stuff was taking care of and left with Nell to handle, the android decided to go have some fun. It was easy to blend in with the public and keeping on a pair of shades, such as his aviator glasses, allowed him to blend in pretty easy. After all, outside of those inhuman, glowing eyes, there wasn't anything else physically that gave him away. So here was surfing on the waves with a gray surf board and a pair of black swim trunks. He was doing pretty good, as he rode right into the curve of the wave. However a sad misjudge of when it would collapse, washed him out. But soon the surfing dirty blonde rose from the waters, and shaking his short mass of hair, which because of it being wet looked more brown than blond right now. It takes Sinya a moment to even track down Tina in the mass of people, but soon enough she spots her roommate, heading off in that direction. Behind her, a few men seem to be following the path of her tail, one of them ending up smacked by his girlfriend for the wandering eyes. She's just about to draw attention to herself when the wipe-out of one of the surfers catches her attention. Sinya's ears perk, and her head tilts, a faint smirk playing on her features as she recognises the blonde as he pulls himself out of the water. "Looking good there." She puts a finger in her mouth and wolf-whistles, then offers her employer a wink. Then, the catgirl flops down onto the sand next to Tina, "So, we ready to watch the catgirl flail around like an idiot?" At least she's taking things in good spirits. She does keep that towel around her shoulders though, even if the display of the rest of her skin pattern is quite striking with the lack of clothing. Tina giggles a bit, and nods her head. "Yes, well, flailing kitties might be cute, I'm not going to push you off the deep end yet. At least not until the sharks come out and play.", she teases. The woman gets up, and pops her back. "You can have a life vest, or a kick board. Which do you prefer?", she asks. Tina pops her neck a little bit, and sways her hips, knowing the guys are looking. She's a tease.... The dirty blonde glances over at the wolf whistle and smirks faintly, as he raises up his hand a hello. He snatches the surf board before he drifts off into la-la land, and shakes out his shades, before placing them back on. Soon the man(?) makes it up to the ocean, before resting down the board easy into the sand, making his way over to Tina and Sinya, "Hey," A grin plays over his face, "How you two been?" "Yeah, well just so long as I don't end up looking like a drenched rat." At the very least, with the bathing suit, she isn't likely to look quite as bad as - say when she was pushed into the water in full clothing and half-drown. "And no sharks. I'm supposed to eat fish, not the other way around." Leaning back, Sinya grabs the life vest and lets the towel drop for the time being. As she slides her arms into it, there is just a moment when the faint white lines along her back - obvious scars - are visible before it's covered again. The straps are done up with a little 'click' leaving her looking a bit bulkier for all the padding. Then, the catgirl stands up, casting a grin over in R's direction. "Isn't that what we should be asking you. Long time no see, stranger. Still in one piece, I see." Her tail swishes out behind her, lightly trailing a little pattern in the sand behind her. "I've been better. Getting harassed by Solis's sister June, who seems to think I'm some evil wench bent on abusing her brother's 'innocence'. Oh, and the nearly getting drowned by Liu Feng and causing an entire part of the SuiKyosha's crew to mutiny. I'm just... popular that way." She rolls her eyes, sounding as if the last part might be a joke. Maybe. "Anyways, swim lessons." She glances at Tina again. "So, what do I do besides flail around and sink?" Tina grins a little bit, and pushes Sinya out towards the water. "Well, the next part is getting wet.", she says. The woman winks at the man (?), as she starts getting Sinya towards the water. "The vest will keep you from drowning. You'll just have to follow what I do. Cup your hands, and kick, and uses them to push the water, and kick your feet.", she says. R watches Sinya get herself all 'water' safe, which causes him to quark an eyebrow up. He shrugs softly, "Surviving. Trying to not let my brain loop too much on a few questions I keep asking myself over and over. I'll get the answer eventually.. just not right now." He then cants his head to the side, "Wait-- what? Mutiny and who the heck is Liu Feng?" However Tina starts to move the feline-humanoid to the ocean, and R, placing his hands behind his head, follows with ease. "You know, it may be easier to teach her in like-- a pool with lack of waves that wont smack her in the face. Just saying." Sinya tilts her head, ears slicking backwards. "Easy for you to say." She mutters, as if swimming were just as easy as moving her hands and kicking her feet. Then again, maybe it's something she could pick up if she sees someone else doing it. Of course, then R gives her the distraction to put off getting into the water, although she's dangerous close to it now. "Captain Xiang's former third in command. Real piece of work. He tried to drown me as an example of how outsiders should be dealt with." She glances once at the water, almost nervously. As much as this is a lesson she desperately needs, it doesn't help that she'd nearly lost her life a week ago. "He's took off with some Gunmen and a bunch of scared family folks who didn't want to stay on a combat ship. You should probably ask Miss Zhi Wu, she can probably fill you in better than I can. I was kind of out of it." With that bit of information passed along, Sinya takes a deep breath, and begins walking out into the water. It's shallow at first, so she has time to get used to it and get over the worst of the initial jitters. By the time it gets to about waist-high, she just leans back, letting herself bob into the water, held up by the life-vest. Wet hair, damp fur, the catgirl certainly doesn't seem in her element. "Right, kick your feet... move your arms." She leans forward a bit, giving the motion a shot, although it ends up still looking like flailing. Tina jumps into the water, and starts swimming as if its second nature to her. She laughs a bit as she watches the flailing kitten. "Stop acting like a cat! Just relax, and follow me out.", she says. The woman swims out, and relaxes, floating on the water now, tanning herself out near the surfers. She doesn't need a life vest to stay afloat... R tsks softly as she explains the last bit about the drowning ordeal. He keeps an eye on the two ladies from the shore line before he gives a soft shrug. After awhile of watching Sinya 'flail' swim and Tina try to be all 'cool' for the boys of summer, the android makes his way back over to his surf board, before sitting down on the beach and leaning his back against it. He come running over there if Sinya started to sink-- somehow. If someone could find a way to sink while wearing a lifejacket, it would probably be Sinya. The catgirl just looks ridiculous. After a moment of flailing, she just stops and bobs up and down, blowing a few strands of wet hair out of her face. Her eyes follow the more graceful movements of Tina, murmuring a small growl. "If I was acting like a cat, I wouldn't be within fifty feet of the water!" She shakes her head from side to side, causing her hair to puff up slightly, fur sticking out in all directions. She does try again, though. This time, there's a bit more control in her movements, although the force of the waves don't actually have her getting anywhere. Paddle. Paddle. Stroke. Swoosh. Right back where she started. Actually, Sinya seems to be getting closer to the shore rather than further away. "I think I'm missing something." She admits, pawing at the water and then blowing a few irritated bubbles at the surface, ears flat. The expression is comical. Tina just looks at Sinya. "Silly Kitty!", she yells back. "Try to relax. Then start paddling this way. Come on. Its nice out here, and you got a vest on. Don't worry so much.", she says. No beach, no matter how out of the way, is safe from some bum looking for a place to put his feet up. The bum in question this time is Samuel "Definitely Not Some Crusader" Flynn, wandering down the sandy shore with a pleasant smile and everything he needs to spend some quality time with sun and surf. Cooler in one hand, towel under an arm and jacket over his shoulder--with a white tee shirt, black swim trunks and sandals otherwise--he appears to be looking for a place to settle down /away/ from the main cluster of jerk surfers. Well, okay. They're probably only really jerks if you're a tech like he is. R continues to watch with a grin on his stubble face. He then chuckles softly. He would tell her that Tigers /love/ water, but he didn't want to alert the people out here that somehow he had super hearing or something like that. The android at last sighs, before he rises to his feet at last and walks back over to where Sinya is moving /toward/ the beach compared to away from the beach. He easily walks across the beach with those bare feet of his before he moves himself near her. With a soft whistle, he snatches the back of her life-jacket and starts to 'tow' swim her away from the shore line. "Tina is doing a horrible job as an instructor." He muses, "Even though as the old human saying goes. Sometimes you gotta go in," He then lifts her up, "Feet first!" Then chucks her gently into the water, though he was very careful about it, fully aware that the life-jacket would protect her. There was also a shit-eating grin on his face; if you been around guys, you know the one. "Now come on, just do some doggie paddles, that isn't hard!" Also for now, Sam is paid no mind too, because really-- why would R have to worry about that dude. He wasn't A-laws, and he wasn't Crest-- at least last time he checked he wasn't. "Easy for you to say!" This seems to be Sinya's quote for the day, one that only lasts as long as it takes her to get hoisted up by her lifejacket. "ERk!" THe catgirl blinks and actually curls up almost cutely, drawing her hands up towards her chest as she looks towards R with those big, adorable eyes. You remember Puss'n'Boots from Shrek. Yeah, those eyes. And yet somehow he is still able to chuck her out deeper into the water. "Yoooouuu... Suuuuuuccck!" Splash. There is a moment where the force is enough to drag her underwater. Her cheeks puff out, but she manages to swim towards the surface - or at least the life-jacket manages to drag her most of the way. As her head comes up, hair dripping into her eyes, Sinya glares back at R. "Here's a La Gian curse for you. May all your important parts RUST." Okay, she's not /really/ mad. With another shake of her head, Sinya is forced to use her own body for movement without the help of nearby land. So, she flails a bit, doggy paddles just long enough to realize that it's totaly un-catlike, and then actually tries to swim. It's not perfect, but she's at least trying to mimic the movements of Tina and the others. Sam looks out to sea and sees... shenanigans. He can't describe it as anything else. He stops on the beach near where the splashing and flailing is occurring out in the water, drops his stuff, and just kind of starts to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Sure, he probably shouldn't be having this much entertainment at the expense of what appears to be a cat-girl--something he would not have normally looked at without batting an eye--but she's trying to do the doggy paddle. "Maybe she should try the kitty stroke," Sam remarks wryly, still laughing a little. He kind of feels bad about it. Though... 'rust'? Tina laughs a bit, and moves over to Sinya. "Come on now.", she says. The woman grabs one of Sinya's arms. She pulls it out to its full length, and then looks at her. "Cup your hand like you're going to get a drink of water. Then put it into the water, and use it like you were pushing yourself along the ground. Do that with your other arm after you feel your paw hit your thigh." R muses softly as Sinya tries to be cute, but yes, it didn't work. He can only laugh when she curses at him. "I don't think my parts are of that low of quality, kitten." He says with a sound of a tease in his voice; giving her a bit of a hard time back. "Just remember, I don't look like the drowned rat." R then pushes back a bit with an arm stroke as he lets Tina take over, allowing her to show Sinya a bit more proper way, but hey! At least his plan did indeed work. Always tossing people out in the depth taught them to swim, well-- sometimes. That is also why you always had them stay near by. However as he was starting to make his way back, he heard Sam's voice call out to them and his glanced over his shoulder, "You ever seen a cat swim? They look very ungraceful and not so purrrrfect." Yes, more jokes right back at you Sinya. As much as Sinya would very much like to pay attention to Tina's teachings, the fact that she's getting teased by her 'former' employer as well as by some random stranger seems cause another of those 'kitty will kill you later' looks. Ears flat, she glares at Sam and at R, although the likelihood of her actually being angry at them isn't too likely. She does look a bit strange trying to learn how to swim, so it's bound to draw a few jokes. "Yeah yeah. It won't be nearly so funny when I use you as a scratching post." Her eyes flash to the stranger for a moment, but don't linger on him too long as she looks back at Tina. Her ears lift slighty, water dripping off of them as she tries to mimic the motion. "Right." The catgirl tries yet again - this time actually managing the motion that she's been instructed. She moves in the water, at least somewhat, although her posture is still comical at best. Her ears drawn back, head above water, and tail twitched up - she looks more like a cat-shark than anything else, paddling along in search of fishes. So much so, in fact, that she does stop mid-stroke and swats at the water. "Mmm. Sorry, it was a tuna." She points down, laughing softly at herself. Tina goes under water, and swims under Sinya. She grins a bit. Time to test the Kitty attention span! Belly tickle! R takes up his hand as he starts to walk out of the water and does that 'blah blah' hand motion back at Sinya. He isn't to worried about it really, he knows she means it in all good fun, just like he does. Though he does turn around to see Tina go underwater, which can't be good for Sinya. However if he needed to go back out their and rescue the ladies, so be it. Though he was never the 'hero' type. More like the anti-hero and if we go into the life he was supposed to be mimicking, the playboy; you know - details, details. As he comes out of the water, he gives Sam a quick once over, trying to get a general idea-- --wait-- why does this guy look familiar? The sudden register cause R to pause for a moment, before he shakes his head softly. Recognized or not, he didn't need to bring attention to many of who he was. Not with all the current activity going on. "Also, don't mind Sinya," He states to Sam. "She is feisty, but a great person. The other one is Tina. She ain't to bad herself, and who may you be?" He says before placing out his hand for a shake. Yeah, okay, maybe laughing at something his size that presumably has claws is a terrible idea. And girls never fight fair, either... Sam spreads out his towel and drops onto it, still shaking with laughter, though this time most of it is stifled by the common sense he's got to deal with. Still entertained and with nothing better to do, he sits back and enjoys the view, keeping his peanut-gallery-esque comments to himself. He /does/ pop open the cooler and retrieve a soda from it (apparently he's a Lunar Titanium Mountain Dew guy), dropping his jacket over the top of it, emblem up. He looks up at R with a grin. "I figured. If nothing else, they're nice to look at," he says, speaking in a casual tone that he fully expects the one with the cat ears to hear. "Sam Flynn, roving gearhead." Oh, if there is one thing you do not do to a cat, it's go after their belly when they aren't expecting it. Even more-so, Sinya isn't exactly the touchy-feely type of cat to begin with, and sudden touch usually results in claws. The moment she feels that contact, Sinya tenses and then she lashes out with her legs. There's no way of reaching the girl beneath her with her arms, so she just kicks off, paddling towards shore with her ears flattened down. With the likelihood of Tina surfacing at some point on her trek back towards land, Sinya turns back at one point, and bobs in the water, "Don't do that again. Seriously." Her green eyes are just a little too intense to be playful. "I think I'm done for now, anyways." She mutters, and then continues inward, getting just to the point where her feet can touch bottom and then standing up, starting to unclip the life-vest. Her ears do twitch towards Sam, those green eyes turning towards him as her head tilts curiously. She'd deal with that in a minute - after she has a towel. R glances over at the emblem. His eyes hidden deep behind the reflective sun glasses narrow for a second. Now that-- He did know. However he couldn't say, 'Oh yeah, YOU!', because well, that be bad right now. If this guy was a merc, even if he just said gear-head, or had any ties with mercs.. Sometimes paranoia was a bitch. "Sam Flynn huh? I think I may have heard of you on the grape vine, but you can hear many things. "And yeah, they do have some nice figures." R then crosses his arms over his chest, though he doesn't say his own name, but this may be the fact his attention gets drawn over to Sinya as she starts to make her way out. "You alright?" He asks over to her. His eyes do skim out over the water to make sure, or in hopes, that Tina wasn't to far behind Sinya. Sometimes it wasn't the ones who didn't know what they were doing you had to worry about, as water can sometimes can be a nice, but ruthless and powerful element. Sam looks back at Sinya. He shoots a smile at her, and not the kind that is normally reserved for being a snarky smartass. He's just playing around with her, that's all; nothing wrong with that, right? "Depends which grapevine you're privvy to," Sam says with a shrug. "Inner Sphere? Martian? Terran Trailers?" He looks at R for a long moment. "You don't look lanky enough to be a Martian, and you don't have the features to be from where I worked in the Inner Sphere, so I'm gonna guess Trailers. Which means Raven's Nest, because I don't think the guys from the other place have actually heard of me." Woah. Process of elimination, much? "Worked as a mechanic down in the Nest pits for a while. Thinking of seeing if there's any more work there--I could use the cash." Sinya tosses the life vest down onto the sand next to Tina's surfboard, crouching down to pluck up her towel. There is another brief flash of her back, but then it's covered again. She runs the cloth over her hair, over her fuzzy shoulders and elbows, getting rid of the worst of the lingering droplets of water. Drying her tail is probably a lost cause, so she lets the damp fur just air-dry, the appendage lashing behind her as it puffs slightly then twitches. "I'm fine." She notes, walking over towards R and the 'gear-head'. "Sinya Leland." She introduces herself without needing to be prompted. Afterall, she'd caught his name earlier. "And my friend here is right, I'm a pussy cat compared to most. Besides, I can't blame someone for laughing at something that's funny." She shrugs those fuzzy shoulders, knowing full well how ridiculous she looked trying to swim. Maybe next time, she'd get Yu Zhi Wu to teach her and do so in one of the private pools on the SuiKyosha. At the very least, it would be a bit less embarassing. "Actually, I'm the one who works at the Nest." She offers, "Mechanic, designer, but most of the time I'm an overglorified repair girl for mercs who don't take good care of their mechs." She returns that smile for now, catching her breath from the aerobics of swimming. "There's almost always work to be had. I'm just not sure who you would talk to about it these days." R watches as the guy goes down the list. He doesn't look over impressed as he does, for the most part he just stares at Sam. Keeping those shades however the only thing the mechanic can really make eye contact with. "Nice job of going down the list. I use to be a Raven, not anymore." He explains calmly. "Left the Raven's Nest some time ago. Kind of doing my own work now." Nice try on the cover up story and Sinya comes in to say her bit, which he gives a soft nod. "As for work at the Nest, yeah-- things are a bit crazier then normal, or so I hear. You know, with the whole founder actually dead and the A-Laws being up in the Nest's face." He lowers his arms. "You do better finding a job probably not with the Nest right now." For now, R walks away from the two. Mostly to check on his own surfboard and try to soft foot himself out of that conversation, besides Sinya was a /great/ distraction. "Good to meet you," Sam says with a nod Sinya's way. R's right, though; Sinya is a pretty fantastic distraction. He looks back to the as-of-yet unidentified former Raven and gives him a nod, mulling that fact over. Who leaves the Raven's Nest and goes independent as a /mercenary/? That's kind of like shooting yourself in the foot. At least Sam got a better job offer... "Yeah, maybe..." He turns back to Sinya, cracking open his can of soda and taking a gulp. Cold and refreshing. "They never do. Some of the Ravens would come back after jobs or fights in the Arena expecting me to be some kind of miracle worker, turning scrap into spare parts." He shakes his head, grinning. "Good thing I /am/ kind of a miracle worker. But, I dunno, I guess I'd need to go talk to whoever was running the repair services these days. Founders never took too much interest in that unless it was their Core." !!! That caused those aqua green eyes to glare over at Sam in his peripheral vision from the side of those Aviator glasses. Though he was quick to just go back to what he was doing. He didn't want to bring attention to himself or to who he /once/ was. All he muttered softly to himself, as he snatched up his surf board to go ride another wave or two was, "You are not him anymore.. just leave it at that.. the Nest is not in you hands anymore..". So, the former Raven goes to hit the waves for a bit. Probably do well on them, as balance wasn't a problem, and it was kinda easy to calculate ahead of time what the water may do; though there was always that chance of error. Sinya's eyes follow R as he excuses himself out of the conversation. Hrmph. She hasn't always been the most social creature, although she had opened up more as of late. The popping of the soda can is enough to draw her attention back, head tilting slightly from side to side. "That's the problem I have. Although, I get it split two ways." She smirks slightly, those ears swiveling forward. "I got assigned as a liason for a La Gian battleship, but most of the time I spend training their staff and repairing their mechs, too." She laughs, and then runs a hand through her hair. "Thank the gods that they let me switch off shifts, otherwise I'd never sleep." "So, you found work elsewhere?" She asks, watching Sam with curious eyes. "I've considered finding other employment, myself. Mostly because of all the turmoil around the Nest lately." Her tail twitches, shaking her head. "It's not a good place to work anymore." Sam doesn't notice R's reaction. He's no Newtype--reading people is not what he does, through use of fancy powers or the powers of fancy /perception/. He gets away with it, and for a little while longer, stays under the radar. Or at least off to one side--Sam doesn't quite know who he is, but something's up, there... "A battleship from La Gias? Really?" Sam's eyebrows rise. "I didn't know they /had/ any. But I guess if they've got magic-powered flying mechs down there, it kind of makes sense. Do they not have their own techs, or are they just not used to surface-tech or what?" He scratches the back of his head idly, taking another sip of his soda and jerking his head questioningly at the cooler. She's welcome to one. "Yeah, I found a development position out in the Inner Sphere and then came home when the contract was up. I'm sort of doing freelance dev work now--works out once in a while, but usually I get paid by some pretty shady folks." Like the DC, or Amalgam, neither of which he's mentioning. The two talk; that is good. R surfs, that is also good. Thankfully even if Sam could read minds or pick up emotions, he wouldn't get anything really off R. Why? Because this goes into the 'Do Android's dream of Electric Sheep' category. However the dirty blond does misjudge one of the waves and it completely takes him down. It wasn't very graceful either, but R manages to come out and shake his head. Sadly however his shades were blasted off and he goes looking for those. When he does find them, he only finds them covered in sand, which he tries to shake off and use what current to clean them off with. Then with ease he starts to make his way to shore, shaking off the shades a bit more, before he manages to get them clean enough to place them back on. He once more places his surf board into the sand, before leaning on it gently. His vision seeming to be peering out to the ocean itself. "Mmm." Sinya nods her head, accepting the offer as she goes fishing through the cooler to pluck out a soda. Then, she settles down onto the sand, seeming to enjoy the sunlight and the way that it dries out her fur and warms her skin. "Even where I come from on Gaea they have larger ships, but nothing like the one I'm talking about. It rivals the largest of the human fleets I've seen." She chuckles, popping the top on the can and taking a long drink. Then, with a breath of air, she smiles, "Ahh, thanks." She tips her can towards him. "Mostly, they're from the Spiral Plains. Lord Genome's territory." The catgirl explains, stretching her long legs out in front of her. When she's not flailing in the water, the young woman certainly has quite a few attractive features that the bathing suit shows off quite well. "They'd never seen anything other than gunmen. So I've been getting them up to speed on modern technology, and getting a lesson in machines that don't work by any sense of logic in trade." Sinya smirks slightly, letting her eyes glance out towards the surf just in time to see R take another wave and then swim towards shore. She doesn't try to draw too much attention to him - besides, Samuel seems like a kindred spirit. "I've considered just taking on work on the battleship permanently. We'll see what happens with the Nest, I guess. My biggest worry is that it'll get handed over to Boyle Fortner and the Frighteners." She shivers slightly, causing some of her fur to stand on end. "Bad experiences." Rather than explaining futher, she considers the concept of working for 'shady folks'. "But yeah, I've had a few of those jobs, myself. I don't even have time for them, anymore." Another of those faint smirks is followed by a twitch of her tail. "But busy means good money, at least." The dirty blonde is still here. He is enjoying watching the ocean. In truth, he is using the sound of the water to block out any and all conversation between Sam and Sinya. Mostly cause he doesn't want to mess up the nice day he is having and being spotted. Even if people may not yell, 'Killer Robot!!', it is better to be safe. "No prob. Looked like you could use it." Sam shrugs a shoulder slightly, lifting his can in salute. "Giant ships from beneath the Earth... heh, thought I'd seen everything. Well," he corrects, tilting his head, "not /everything/, but--you know." He swirls the soda in the can and takes another slug of it. Good stuff. Caffeine addiction is not a pretty thing, but it's a /delicious/ one. "Haha--well, haven't had a chance to look at a Gunman, but I hear they're pretty crazy stuff. Friend of mine uses one, or something based off it--never got a chance to take a look under the hood, but it did some weird moves." He glances out to sea, watching the nameless Raven in the surf. Who /is/ that guy? There's an awful lot he doesn't know here, and by the way he spoke, it sounds like he doesn't want to tell him. Must be the mysterious ace pilot type. Sam, ultimately, finds that he enjoys talking to Sinya, both because she knows what she's talking about and because, well, she's pretty cute. You cannot argue with eye candy that doubles as a grease monkey. "Frighteners, huh? Thought those guys were off on Mars? Well, whatever--they stayed out of my way when I was up there and I stayed out of there's. If they annex the Nest though... well, might be trouble." Another gulp of caffeinated, carbonated goodness. "Yeah, that's true. I get enough to work on my private collection and I have a pretty sizeable research budget from the most recent contractors, so I figure that I'm doing pretty well all in all, even if it's keeping me tied up all the time. Still having problems finding the right engine parts for my Gelgoog restoration... but what're you gonna do?" "Being from La Gias, myself, I can tell you that there are so many things even I haven't seen before." Sinya shakes her head, drawing one knee up slightly towards her as she leans an arm across it languidly. "The crusaders have a giant La Gian machine that emits these mini-nuclear explosions, like an internal sun. The federation has the aid of Team Dai-Gurren, and the Trailers have me and the SuiKyosha. We underworlders do tend to get around." With a laugh, she takes another sip of the soda, probably needing the caffine just as much as her current companion. Something about techs and running on coffee and energy drinks - perhaps. "But yeah, there's some pretty crazy stuff out there. I've been toying with some designs and mod work on a Gunman myself, but I keep hitting brick walls. It doesn't work when it should, and it does work when it shouldn't." She gives a little roll of her eyes, her ears twitching back expressively, "Besides the fact that I haven't ever gotten one to move an inch. No fighting spirit, I guess." the catgirl shrugs, seeming not to notice the fact that R is still nearby and possibly listening. For the most part, Sinya didn't judge anyone, regardless of faction or ties to others, and nothing she's talking about is particularly classified. "Yeah, well. I ran into one of the Freighteners on Mars, and that's pretty much why I don't trust them. I was helping evacuate civilians and got attacked just for being there. So much for the high and mighty Federation." She smirks, but then leans a little bit towards Samuel, curiousity in those cat-like eyes. "Private collection?" Oh boy, someone said the secret word. "What kind of machines do you have? I mean... I've just got my guymelef, and an Arachno gundam a friend loaned me those times when I indulge in 'shady business' myself." Her tail twitches, showing her interest. The 'unknown' pilot glances over at last as the two are having their techy chat. There was almost a faint smirk on his face, before he at last walks over. For now he stays pretty quiet, but hey. He spent enough time staring off into the great big ol' ocean. Mechanics tend to be an obsessive lot. None of them are willing to come back to a project; all of them want to finish it right then and there, or go with a long chain of days that consist of work-lose consciousness-work with the days stretched into nights by frequent bouts of intense caffeination. They're practically machines in their own right; their fuel is just soda, coffee, or way-too-concentrated energy drinks. "I've seen the one with the mini-nukes," Sam remarks. "Wouldn't want to get in her way. And I've only heard of the Gurren guys--crazy bunch by every report, but pretty effective in a fight. I think La Gias has a thing about all the craziest things coming to the surface to play, and none of 'em making a lick of sense to modern science." He smiles at the thought. Trying to science the hell out of a guymelef or a gunman... Sam's eyes sparkle mischeviously. He crosses his legs and plants an elbow on his knee, propping his chin up with his fist. "Well... I've got the Armored Core NEXT I built myself," he says, ticking off one finger of many, "a couple of ARM Slaves I nabbed from the Soviets, a pristine Zaku II with all the original parts, a Gelgoog A Baoa Cu Battle Type I've been restoring, one of the few Efreets they ever put into production, and one of the first-run Dolas manufactured in the Inner Sphere. Don't even think that they've started selling those yet." He grins. "Still looking for a Gundam. No luck yet." Apparently, if you look up the word 'mechanic' in a dictionary, there's probably a picture of Sinya right next to it. Because that definition seems to fit her quite perfectly. This is one of her rare 'days off' doing something /other/ than repairing mechs or playing liason for La Gian refugees. "I can't even explain how my own guymelef works. The energy source, the way it reacts sometimes. Best I can hope to do is shrug and claim 'magic' is the cause for all the weirdness. But then half of the Ravens don't even believe in magic." Of course, when he starts talking shop, Sinya leans in more, eyes widening as he lists off the units that he owns. "You really weren't kidding when you said you had a collection." Sinya lets out a whistle, and then shakes her head. "The closest I've ever had to a Gundam is some parts I salvaged off of one that got trashed during a battle." She rubs at the back of her neck, then shrugs, "Although I did the right thing then, and gave them back to the pilot." She glances out towards the surf, looking up just in time to see R making his way back toawrds them. The catgirl raises a hand, but doesn't actually speak a greeting. "My biggest personal project is the Gunmen right now. After that, I'm not sure. I've been meaning to fiddle with doing some custom design work. Maybe a mix of both worlds." She sighs, and then just laughs, "Although, I think I'll probably get distracted long before that happens." Draining the last of her can, Sinya pushes herself to her feet, offering Samuel a bit of a smile. "Speaking of work, I should really get back. Things are... hectic at the moment, so they need all the hands they can get." Hands-- and eyes. R himself also starts to make his way out and gives a wave to Sam. "Take care Sam and hope to catch you later on." And with that, that 'ace' pilot is gone. "You learn to believe in magic when someone shoots at you with a magic tornado," Sam replies easily. "I think there's still some crazy magic crusader girl out for my blood, but--well, you know. Happens." He shrugs and polishes off the rest of his soda, crushing the can sideways and tossing it into a plastic bag behind him. He goes for another one. "Still expanding it--a Gundam is kind of, you know, iconic enough that having one would make it that much better. I'm looking for a Wanzer, too, if you've got any idea where some cutting edge or solid classics might be." He cracks the next can open. "Ahhh, I'd probably have kept 'em, unless I knew the pilot. Or wanted to be a jerk after they were." Sam lifts the can but doesn't drink from it. He looks away from the catgirl and to the sea as the surf comes in. "Tough thing to do. Might want to try on something a little less esoteric first--if you haven't built a custom machine before, well, it can be pretty tricky. Making something that works off magic and good-ol' modern technology... /that/ would be something." The other tech looks back over and nods. "It's cool, I understand. Maybe I'll catch you again sometime. With any luck I'll be in the Nest again soon, so..." He trails off, shrugging and smiling. Category:Logs